Tree Mail

In Melbourne, Australia there has been a longstanding initiative to repopulate urban areas with trees following decades of loss of these natural elements in the cityscape.

The benefits have been quite noticeable with an increase in oxygen in the environment as well as feelings of well being and togetherness amongst citizens who have trees outside their homes and in the roadways and highways. The 70,000 trees are mapped in a project called Urban Forest Visual, with each tree assigned an identification number.The city authorities gave each tree its own identification credentials in the form of an e mail address to allow members of the public to report any fallen or damaged boughs, vehicle impact or any other matters of concern.

There has been a fantastic response from Melbourne citizens who have felt empowered by their implied adoption of the trees.

Another unexpected side effect has been that individual trees have been bombarded with emailed love letters using the unique Identification codes.

Since launching in May 2013, a supporting website for the Project has received more than 3,000 emails to individual trees.

The emails have come from as far afield as Russia, Germany, the US, Britain, Hungary, Moldova, Singapore, Brazil, Denmark and Hong Kong.

Some of the trees’ fans have never set foot in the city:

Here is a sample of the fan mail received;

Brush Box (ID 1039919) 14 July 2015
Hello, dear Tree. I read about this wonderful project and suppose to write you from another side of Earth - Russia. I hope you have a good care and don’t sick. One day we will meet, may be.

English Elm (ID 1032245) 14 July 2015
Are you and your fellow English Elms enjoying the Ashes series as much as we in England are, and are you giving the native Aussie trees some stick over their team’s performance.

Chinese Elm (ID 1289990) 19 February 2015
Hi tree, My Name is Tina I’m from Germany. I like trees all over the world, you know. Let me tell you something about German trees. They live in huge woods and because it rains often in Germany they almost never suffer from draught. This might sound heavenly to you but believe me Germany is not heavenly in winter - it’s freezing cold and quite dark. I wish I could come and tell you more about them but Australia is damn far away from here.Keep away from fire! Sending you best wishes from Germany 

It appears that the most popular tree is a 13metre-tall Golden Wych Elm (ID 1028612) on Punt Road estimated to be about 70 years old.

The tree has received seven emails to date, including this one on 30 January:

Hi tree on the corner of Punt Road and Alexandra Avenue and that little street that goes up the side, How are you? How old are you? I’ve always wondered about you ever since my slightly strange driving instructor (who always smelled like cat food and peppermints) told me you were his favourite tree.I hope they don’t knock you down.

The project is part of a wider push to revitalise Melbourne’s greenery, with aims to double canopy cover from 20% to 40% by 2040.

An aptly named City Official, a Councillor Wood believes this will cool the city’s summertime temperatures by 4C.

More than four in 10 of Melbourne’s trees will be lost over the next 20 years due to old age.

Having planted 12,000 new trees in the past four years, the city is on track to replace those trees and increase canopy cover.

Councillor Wood is pleased with the project’s success. “We know that Melburnians are passionate about their trees, parks and gardens. We were surprised and delighted to find that many people all over the world feel the same way.”